Who are some of the best japanese boxers of all time?

Piston Honda was probably the strongest. He was built identically to Mike Tyson. You don't see that in a lot of Japanese fighters.

 

I've always thought that Fighting Harada, Jiro Watanabe, Yoko Gushiken and Masao Ohba were some of the very best Japanese fighters.

 

Harada is the greatest.

Inoue already has a reasonable case for #2. Masao Ohba, Yoshio Shirai (their first world champ and many would say most important), Yoko Gushiken perhaps the closest to those two? Watanabe was excellent, as was Ebihara, and in recent times Ioka has carved out a very good resume. He’ll likely get into Canastota and deserve it.

Lots of excellent fighters from Japan and they don’t look to be stopping any time soon.

 

For less obvious picks, super talented boxer with a glass Jaw, Kuniaki Shibata.

 

Mamoru Takamura, multidivisional world champion

 

I personally always liked Hozumi Hasegawa and Takashi Uchiyama

 

Harada is obviously the best and greatest. A truly wonderful fighter when on point. Shirai was important though like Chris said. First champion and so on.

Ohba, Ebihara, Watanabe, Gushiken, Oguma, Inoue, Shibata, Saijo, Numata, Ishimatsu, Hasegawa, both Kobayashis, Nishioka, Ioka, Hanagata have all ranged from good titleists/lineal champions to borderline great.

Ohba, Watanabe, Ebihara, Gushiken, Shibata and Inoue being probably being the five stand outs of that group. Ohba the overall best mix of talent, skill, and proven imo just in front of Watanabe but with his career cut tragically short. Oguma and then Ebihara probably having fought in the toughest eras and Ebihara with arguably the best single win with his one round demolition of Kingpetch (jostling with Shibata grinding down the faded but still very good Saldivar). Shibata was an interesting fighter very skilled and talented, but fragile. Gushiken and Watanabe likewise a very advanced and versatile mix of ability and technical mastery, but Gushiken fighting average opposition and bowing out with a whimper with Watanabe being lazy, undedicated and an all round unlikeable scummy c*nt.

Inoue less skilled overall than some of the best Japanese fighters and having fought the weakest opposition and dodged a very good mix of fighters at 115, but a visibly imposing mix of power, speed, size and toughness as well being the man at bantam and super bantam. He'll always rank more favourably than his more obscure or older compatriots due to recency bias and the general ignorance of the history of older lower weight fighters. He has a bit of time on his side to climb the ladder further though.

Oguma is a fighter for who I have a liking and respect. He fought in the greatest flyweight era ever and was an important figure in it. A very good underrated workmanlike Jack of all trades fighter who is a testament to the benefits of perseverance and always being in great shape. It took him six tries to win back his title over a number of years after being repeatedly thwarted by the great little master Canto (which I think is a record) and he beat a far greater but flakier talent than himself to do so in the end in the form of Park. Even when far past his best against Watanabe he turned up in immaculate condition and tried like a man possessed.

Saijo is a personal favourite. A very elegant, pleasing stand up boxer puncher but one with no defensive awareness or discipline who threw caution to the wind and loved a ruck if he got hit cleanly. Thus was in a number of very entertaining fights before his luck ran out against the excellent Gomez.

Tanabe, Seki and Sakurai were all world class contenders who had bad luck and/or relatively brief careers. Seki fought a very tough era and rarely got a clean break. Sakurai was a brilliant fighter, one of the fastest I've seen on film. A great amateur who was a tad unlucky not to sneak the title from Rose. Tanabe is interesting and very little discussed. He was unbeaten when he was forced to retire with a bad eye but looked fantastic battering Accavallo, the world champion at the time, into submission. A real what if type fighter.

 

Tin, I love all the picks from everyone on this thread. it shows the depth of talent in the land of the rising sun. I especially liked your inclusion of Tanabe and Seki. A couple of contenders who were awesome. I would also add - just to round things out - Kazuyoshi Kanazawa, the similar sounding Katsuyoshi Takayama, Yoshio Nakane, Sadao Yaoita, Eijiro Murata and because he was such a break-through at a higher weight class, Koichi Wajima as the first 3 time jr. middleweight champ.

 

Quality, quality post.

 

Masao Ohba was already a great before he tragically died at 23 years old. Who knows what else he would have accomplished.

 

my top 50 or so sort of in order with some of their most notable fights (didn't include masamori tokuyama because i wasn't sure if he counts)
fighting harada (W - jofre x2, kingpetch, rudkin, medel, herrera, L - famechon x2, rose, medel, kingpetch)
naoya inoue (W - tapales, fulton, butler, donaire x2, moloney, rodriguez, mcdonell, kono, narvaez, hernandez)
yoko gushiken (W -flores, vargas, pedroza, rios, marcano, guzman, lopez L - flores)
kazuto ioka (W - jaigrajang, navarrete, yaegashi, alvarado, reveco x2, arroyo, palicte, cintron, tanaka, rodriguez, nietes, franco, L - nietes, ruenroeng, D - franco)
masao ohba (W - chartvanchai, gonzalez, hanagata, amores, chionoi, L - hanagata)
hozumi hasegawa (W - sahaprom x2, vetyeka, burgos, ruiz, L - martinez, gonzalez, montiel,)
jiro watanabe (W - pedroza, ballas, oguma, kwon, poontarat x2, L - kim, roman)
shoji oguma (W - park x3, gonzalez, L - avelar, lopez, gonzalez x2, furesawa, canto x3, watanabe D - gonzalez)
kuniaki shibata (W - saldivar, villaflor, arredondo, amaya, L - escalera, villaflor, sanchez, D - marcel)
toshiaki nishioka (W - saru, gonzalez, munroe, marquez, L - donaire, sahaprom x2, D -sahaprom x2)
koichi wajima (W - bossi, oliveira, sorimachi, albarado, yuh, sorimachi, L - albarado, yuh, duran, D - oliveira)
shinsuke yamanaka (W - solis, moeno x2, sor rungvisai, tunacao, rojas, darchinyan, esquivel, iwasa, L - nery x2)
koki kameda (W - landaeta x2, naito, munoz, ruiz L - kono)
hiroyuki ebihara (W - chionoi, kingpetch, torres x2, severino L - accavallo x2, kingpetch, villacampo)
akira yaegashi (W - sor rungvisai, porpramook, igarashi, sosa, mendoza, L - ioka, mthalane, melindo, guevara, gonzalez, junlaphan)
daisuke naito (W - wonjongkam, kameda, L - kameda, wonjongkan x2, D - wonjogkam)
susumu hanagata (W - chionoi, torres, oba, L - salavarria x3, torres, oba, chionoi, canto)
kosei tanaka (W - ishida, gonzalez, taguchi, kimura, acosta, fuentes L - ioka)
kenshiro teraji (W - lopez x2, guevara, melindo, yabuki, budler, kyoguchi L - yabuki)
yoshiaki numata (W - elorde x2, barrientos x2, rose, L-arredondo, ramos, kobayashi D - navarro)
joichiro tatsuyoshi (W - richardson, rabanales, iamthuam, ayala, chertchai, L - rabanales, yukushiji, zaragoza x2, sahaprom x2,)
hiroshi kobayashi (W - valladares, numata, arredondo, saijo, amaya x2 L - navarro, duran, marcano, ramos, D -barrientos, valladares)
katsuya onizuka (W - nakajima, sithbaobay x2, castro, lee, matsumura, L - lee) every fight a banger
hiroki ioka (W - yuh, tunacao, L - yuh, tokuyama, bonilla, iida, chertchai, griman, kiatwanchai x2, D - kiatwanchai)
katsuo tokashiki (W - kim x2, madera, L-madera x2, chang, D-madera)
yoshio shirai (W - marino x2, espinosa, L - espinosa, perez x2, marino, D - perez)
hideyuki ohashi (W - choi, choi, kiatwanchai, L - porpaoin, lopez, changx2)
yasutsune uehara (W - serrano, hernandez, arredondo, L - villaflor, serrano)
guts ishimatsu (W - gonzalez x2, buchanan, L - de jesus, duran, rose, laguna)
hiroshi kawashima (W - lee, bueno x2, salazar, L - penalosa)
yasuei yakushiji (W - byun x2, tatsuyoshi L - mccullough)
katsunari takayama (W - bustos, rodriguez, kano L - soto, argumendo, rodriguez, joyi, gonzalez, niida, junlaphan)
kohei kono (W - mullipoom, wangmuk, kameda L - sato, conception, inoue, moloney, solis, nashiro, rojas)
nobuo nashiro (W - castillo, kono, L - munoz, cazares, rojas, kaikanha, mullipoom, wangmuk, D - cazares)
yutaka niida (W - porpaoin, arambulet, landaeta, takayama, L- gonzalez, arambulet)
daiki kameda (W - guerrero, wangmuk, sakata, L - naito, wangmuk, mullipoom, solis)
hideki todaka (W - rojas, sithoar, gamez L - zarate, gamez, D - rojas)
takashi miura (W - diaz, jordan, dib, roman, L - uchiyama, vargas, berchelt)
hiroto kyoguchi (W - bermudez, budler, argumendo, L - teraji)
katsushige kawashima (W - tokuyama, navarro, L-tokuyama x2, mijares x2, munoz)
mitsunori seki (W - chionoi, L - chionoi, kingpetch, ramos, kobayashi, saldivar x2, winstone)
takefumi sakata (W - parra, vasquez, nakanuma, L -nakanuma, parra x2, vasquez, kameda, wangmuk, D - naito, wangmuk)
celes kobayashi (W - gamez, rojas, L - munoz, D - tunacao)
satoshi iida (W - ioka, sithoar, L - goitia, rojas, D - sithoar)
ryoichi taguchi (W - rossel, melindo, L- tanaka, inoue, budler, D- canizalez)
tomoki kameda (W - uthok, ambunda, L - mcdonell x2, vargas)
yota sato (W - kaikanha, akaho, kono, L - sor rungvisai)
takahiro ao (W - larios, tajbert, boschiero, kokietgym L - larios, diaz, rojas, D - enoki)
sho kimura (W - zou, L - tanaka, canizalez)
junto nakatani (W - acosta, rodriguez, cortes, moloney)

 

WOW. Thanks, Yotam!

 

just realized i accidentally missed shozo saijo (W - rojas x2, stevens, L - gomez, kobayashi)

 

What an absolutely amazing post lad.